


PK Wishing

by Natsumiya_Teirin



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3, Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Twincest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:16:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12697176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natsumiya_Teirin/pseuds/Natsumiya_Teirin
Summary: Desperate for new smashers, Master Hand goes back in time to find a new candidate. Unfortunately, this..."Commander" has issues of his own that tie in closely to Lucas.Lucas himself struggles with memories he'd though he'd gotten over.How does one from the past comfort someone from a future where he doesn't exist?Very, very carefully. That's how.In which Master Hand makes a mistake, and Ness tries to help Lucas cope with the results.





	1. In Which Crazy's Plan Has Merit- For a Moment

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Merry Christmas, Lucas!](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/339963) by Conner the spelling pro. 



Master Hand looked at the character roster and his fingers curled in frustration. Even though there had been new characters added recently, the numbers were still lower than he would’ve liked. He remembered when the mansion was filled to bursting with fighters. Now only two thirds of the rooms were filled.

He'd brought back some characters that hadn’t made it into the last game (with certain prohibitions, of course) as well as characters that'd recently appeared in certain worlds as said worlds gained popularity (Angel Land was very lucky on that count) but still...if only there was a way to gain more...

Crazy Hand burst into the office, but Master Hand was in no mood to toss him out. In fact, his craziness might just be useful for once. The two hands conversed in awkward sign-language and, after about half an hour, came up with a plan.

Master Hand would go back in time, in much the same way as he had when he'd chosen Young Link all those years ago, and select a fighter- one ideally in his or her prime- and then bring them back to the present.

If that fighter wasn’t too badly affected and got along well with the others, then they'd try again to get more competitors this way. But first, Crazy Hand would dig through the other smashers' files to see if he could find a good candidate from their relations outside of the mansion.

So, Crazy Hand began calling in the smashers one by one into his office, to sort through their memories.

* * *

There was no one to be found in the memories of the Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants, or the Hylians, or Crimeans, or Pikmin, or the Angel Landers that wasn’t already there.

Ness's friends had been invited, but had never shown up.

There were no other Pokèmon trainers as strong as Ashe.

Samus and Cloud were both the strongest in their own respective worlds.

Master Hand was beginning to lose hope until Crazy told him of what he'd found in Lucas's memories.

Lucas had a twin. A twin would be evenly matched in strength, and would be an even better fit for Lucas than Ness (though the boy had triedhard to fill that void).

Now it was just a matter of getting him.

With a dismissive wave, Master Hand disappeared in a flash of light, only to come back a second later looking as if he'd been in a fight. In his fist, he held an unconscious child wearing a helmet of some sort.

Master Hand opened his fist and shook himself out, letting the boy drop down onto the floor.

Crazy Hand called Lucas back in.

* * *

The Hands knew that in Lucas's universe, his twin was gone. After searching through Lucas's memories, they knew he was dead, and that he'd had to fight him when he was still alive.

But looking at memories was vastly different from looking at feelings, so they didn’t know how weak and drained Lucas was when he had to fight him. They didn’t know how devastated he was when he'd suspected the Masked Man's true identity. They didn’t know the soul shattering grief he felt when Claus used Lucas to indirectly kill himself. They didn’t know the relief Lucas felt, when he realized he'd gone an entire day without thinking of his dead twin.

Even though Lucas's feelings weren’t the first priority, Master Hand expected- maybe even hoped- Lucas would be thrilled.

Crazy Hand, who'd always been the more emotional of the two, wasn’t expecting Lucas to be _thrilled_ , necessarily, but...he wasn’t expecting _this_ , either.

Lucas only needed to look at the body before him before his own body seized up.

At that moment, Crazy Hand realized they might've made a mistake. But there was no easy way to reverse it. The most they could do was make the best of it, and speculate.

And wonder just what was going through Lucas's head...

* * *

He saw the boy on the floor, and knew exactly what he'd find if he dared to look closer (so he didn’t dare).

His body froze, and cold terror gripped his heart and _squeezed_ as memories he'd tried so hard to push back forced their way to the forefront of his mind.

> _**The Masked Man used PK Thunder Г!** _
> 
> _**87 damage to Kumatora!** _
> 
> _**84 damage to Duster!** _
> 
> _**Critical hit! 103 damage to Boney!** _
> 
> _**Boney fainted...** _
> 
> _**92 damage to Lucas!** _

He was shaking, and his vision blurred. Why was he here? Why wasn’t he....?

> _**"Oh! Commander, sir! Why are you dressed in those clothes?"** _
> 
> _**He wasn’t a commander of anything.** _
> 
> _**Maybe they looked similar?** _
> 
> _**The pants fit him just right.** _

Lucas scrunched his eyes shut, feeling his chest grow heavier.

He couldn’t breathe- why couldn’t he breathe?

> _**That masked man- no, masked boy- looked down at him from the helicopter.** _
> 
> _**He moved as if he were about to try and help them up, but it must've been a trick.** _
> 
> _**The Rope-snake lost its grip, and they were falling- down, down, down to the trees below, where they'd be torn apart by the branches and left to die.** _

He wobbled and sunk to his knees.

Something wet was running down his cheeks, and someone was calling his name.

It was a familiar voice- one he should've known, but couldn’t pinpoint like this.

> _**"Oh, Claus...my baby boy...you must be so tired..."** _
> 
> _**The Masked Man took off his helmet.** _
> 
> _**It's...!** _
> 
> _**"Claus...it's time to come home..."** _
> 
> _**Claus used PK Thunder Г!** _

"-and then Jeff got ready to use the rocket launcher, and it flew maybe half-way to the zombie before it pooped out on us. There was soot _everywhere_ \- on me, on Paula, on Poo, and even the zombie! Jeff didn’t get any on him, somehow."

Ness...Ness was talking to him.

That warmth must've been him hugging him, for his voice to be so close...

That's right...Ness was here...and if Ness was here, then that meant...

Lucas relaxed against his best friend's chest and looked up. Ness stopped talking and grinned down at him.

"Welcome back, buddy."

Lucas smiled tentatively, noting that they were in Master Hand's office.

Did he dare...? He did.

Lucas dared to look at the plush red carpet and, seeing Claus still there, closed his eyes again.

Then, he spoke out- in part to Ness, but mostly to the Hands, who'd been watching impassively.

"Claus...Claus is dead..." he started, his voice cracking.

"C-Claus is d-dead, b-because I k-killed him! Why is he here? _Why did you bring him here!?"_ His voice was like thin ice, cold, but fragile and ready to break and release a flood of emotions. 

This, Ness realized, was probably the first time he'd seen Lucas acting like a normal human outside of a PTSD flashback.

"Lucas," Master Hand began in his normal practical tone, "we had to fill the roster, and he was the only available candidate."

Lucas took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm himself down.

"...I...I need a moment... _please_."

Crazy Hand curled into a fist and bobbed up and down in a nod. Master Hand sighed.

"Very well. You have until dinner to calm yourself. But because of your relation to Claus, he will be moving into the room you share with Ness."

Lucas nodded his head. "A-alright. Thank you, Master Hand."

The blond allowed Ness to lead him out, and Crazy Hand and Master Hand held another signed conversation.

Yes, Crazy admitted, this was a mistake, but things would turn up eventually.

He was sure of it.


	2. In Which Claus Defies The Reader's Assumptions

The Commander stirred restlessly. Except he wasn’t a Commander, was he? He might’ve been, at some point, but not anymore. King P was...not dead, but trapped in an unescapable capsule of his own creation, and that was as good as death for an almost immortal being. 

Claus remembered the crackling of his PSI at his fingertips, and the gleam of the Franklin Badge on Lucas's shirt.

As the older twin, it was his job to keep Lucas safe, and he'd _failed_. 

If even _he_ could be forced to harm Lucas- his precious, kind, gentle other half- then he would destroy himself, too. That way, Lucas would pull the final needle, and nothing could ever hurt him again, and he could rest knowing that Claus and their mom were both watching over him from Heaven. 

_But that’s not what happened._

He remembered the crackling of lightning- that lovely sizzling sound- and the brilliant flash of the bolts as they reflected off the Franklin Badge.

He remembered the terror in his other half's eyes as he realized what he'd done. 

_I'm doing it for you, Lucas. You'll understand one day that you're better off without me._

And then, just before the lightning hit, he remembered the sensation of being grabbed- snatched right out of death's grip by what, from his perspective, looked like a giant floating hand. Or perhaps this _was_ death holding him. 

He didn’t know for sure, and didn’t really get the chance to find out, as with a softer banging sound, something whapped him in the back of his head, knocking his bruised body into unconsciousness. 

When he next became aware, he was lying facedown on a plush carpet. Faintly, as if he were far away, he could hear a voice that sounded like his brother's, but somehow colder. Years of training engrained and beaten into his body kept him from revealing his wakefulness. Feigning sleep- or rather, feigning unconsciousness- was often a good way to gain information. 

Finally, when the sound of a door shutting reached his ears, Claus dared to lift his head. 

Before him were two floating hands- a left one and a right one. They didn’t seem to be paying attention to him, instead communicating in what looked like an awkward one-handed sign-language. Claus used this to his advantage and blended into the shadows, creeping and crawling along until his gloved hands came to rest around a doorknob. 

He carefully twisted the knob beneath his fingers and slipped out of the room. The door didn’t so much as squeak. 

Standing now in a brightly lit hallway, Claus felt relieved to have escaped that office, but now... 

What could he do? If that voice he'd heard was really Lucas, then he had to find him- had to keep him safe. 

But where could he be? 

With a shrug of his shoulders, Claus forced the helmet off of his head and stowed it away in his subspace inventory pocket.

Then, he began to wander, sticking to the shadows of pillars and stairwells, following a scent that reminded him of the omelets Lucas would make whenever their mom was unable to cook for them. 

Perhaps that was what he was doing now? Cooking an omelet to relax with- and surely he wouldn’t mind sharing, if Claus showed up. And then they could catch up on the things they'd missed from each other's lives and reestablish their previously unbreakable bond. 

And then he could be at Lucas's side again, where he'd keep him safe and happy just like he did back then. 


	3. In Which Lucas Tells The First Half Of A Story

It was April 19th. To most people, that date wouldn’t matter, especially since, in the Smash Mansion, it was nearly impossible to keep track of time. But this was an important day- for everyone, in a way, but especially for Lucas- and Peach was well aware of that. 

Tomorrow was Lucas's birthday. She only knew it because she'd made it her business to find out and celebrate every smasher's birthday. However, for reasons only he, Zelda, and Ness understood, Lucas never wanted to celebrate on that day- either the day before or a couple days after. She'd learned to stop questioning it, and instead turned her curious energy into creative energy, so that the day before, she and the other smashers could give Lucas a good memory he could look back on. 

For this reason, she was in the kitchen cooking omelets just the way she knew Lucas liked them. Rosalina had offered to prepare the cake, and had to leave to get a few ingredients they were running low on. As a result, Peach was the only one in the kitchen when the doors opened. 

She turned, recognizing the somewhat light pitter-patter of feet, her face taking on a stern expression. 

"Lucas, what are you-"   
She cut herself off as her brain registered

that this boy had badly-kept red hair and bright green eyes, rather than Lucas's always-perfect blond hair and empty blue eyes. 

"Y-You're not Lucas..." she observed. 

The boy's expression was blank- even less emotion there than would be on Lucas's face- when he spoke. His voice was rough and hard, almost demanding. 

"No...I am the Commander. Where is Lucas?" 

Peach found herself fearing for Lucas's safety- because a boy looking like that could only mean to hurt him, surely- and in her fear, she screamed. It was a high soprano sound that made the boy cover his ears and grit his teeth. 

Abruptly, something slammed into his back and knocked him down onto his face. 

"Peach," he heard a cool womanly voice say, "is something wrong? Did this kid attack you?" 

The foot on his back dug a little deeper. 

"H-H-He asked for Lucas..." the woman named Peach sniffled. 

The foot left his back and Claus was hauled up. He found himself looking into blue eyes- like Lucas's, but deeper, possessing more than his brother's natural kindness. These eyes staring into his own were like endless pools in an unnatural blue, promising all the knowledge in the world. 

He felt lightheaded. 

Those blue eyes widened, and their owner, a brunette who must've been some sort of monarch, opened her mouth, then closed it.

She shook her head and set him down, keeping a gloved hand on his shoulder. 

"Peach, go tell Lucas to come here, please." 

The blonde snapped out of her shock. "A-okay, Zelda!" She reached over and turned off the stove before she walked passed him and out of the room. 

Once she was well and fully out of earshot, Zelda looked back to the redhead under her hand, her expression one of understanding. 

"You must be Claus," she said softly. Claus looked up at her. How did she know when Peach did not? 

"Lucas told me," she said, briefly glimpsing his confusion, or else uncannily guessing at it. "He spoke quite fondly of you, and missed you dearly. However, by that time, he had somewhat moved on, and only sought my wisdom on his first birthday following his arrival here." 

Claus schooled his face back into its normal stoic expression. "You must be mistaken- I am the Commander. Claus died long ago."   
Zelda nodded her head slightly. 

"I understand. In that case, I'll refrain from using that name unless you and I are alone or with Lucas." 

Though she didn’t understand why the boy would insist on being called by that title, she was sure he had his reasons, and she understood and related to at least that much. 

* * *

Ness guided Lucas to their room, not surprised to see a third bed where there wasn't one before. The Hands were nothing if not efficient. 

Lucas sat down at the edge of his own bed, right between Ness's and what would be Claus's. Or was he still the Commander? The blond looked down at his red sneakers and decided it didn’t matter what his twin preferred now. He'd already learned the truth, even if Claus had yet to remember it himself. 

He looked up slowly as he felt Ness sit on the bed beside him, his familiar lazy grin a comforting sight. 

"Do you wanna talk about it, Lucas?" 

Lucas thought about it for a moment. He'd told Ness some things about his past- that he had a twin, and a mom, and a dad, and how he and his dad and their dog were the only ones left now. But he hadn’t told him everything. 

He shook his head lightly. "I don't want to. But..." he struggled to put his feelings into words. 

"Then don't tell me," Ness said casually. 

"Don't say that," Lucas said, deciding to let the moment guide him, "because as hard as I've tried _not_ to get attached, Ness, you _are_ my friend. You deserve to know the whole story." 

Ness made to say something, but Lucas cut him off. 

"So I'm going to tell you, right now, before I lose the strength to." 

Ness shut up. He really didn’t want to force Lucas into this, but it looked like he kinda did anyway. Shrugging it off, he sat up straighter, giving him his undivided attention. 

"It started on our tenth birthday. Mom took me and Claus up to visit grandpa Alec on Mount Oriander, just beyond the Sunshine Forest. That day, we got to play with the family of Dragos just a little further up the mountain." Lucas smiled fondly as he remembered the baby Drago, only to frown as he thought about what came next. 

"We left just after lunch. Even though the Sunshine Forest was a very safe place, it was still kind of a long walk to get back home to Tazmily. We were about halfway through it when the Drago attacked. Except it wasn’t really a Drago anymore. Half of it was made of metal- it was a cyborg- and it didn’t recognize us as the friends it'd played with earlier that day. Mom told us to run," he let out a shuddering breath, "she told us to run, but I was so scared, I could hardly move. Claus was always braver and stronger than me, so when mom said that, he ended up dragging me away. As we were running, we heard mom scream-" 

Abruptly, their conversation was interrupted by a familiar scream. Peach's scream.

Lucas's eyes were lightly glazed over, and he began to shake. Before he could become fully immersed in his memories, Ness shook his shoulder. He snapped out of it, and Ness felt a little proud of himself. 

"...I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up in the river flowing down through the forest. The adults found us and kept us safe till dad came and got us. And then Bronson came. Apparently they were searching for mom. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them the truth. But Bronson came, holding a Drago fang. He found it in mom's heart, he said. And dad..." Lucas closed his eyes and released another shaky breath. His voice cracked. "He must've been so sad- so sad that he was angry. He went towards Bronson, and then Claus covered my eyes so I couldn’t see what happened. He wouldn’t tell me, either, afterwards. No one would." 

The blond took a deep breath. Ness remained silent. It was important for Lucas that he let it out. 

"Tessie took us home. A couple days later, Claus left the house with an apple and a knife. He said he was going to avenge mom. He was going to avenge mom and kill the Drago, so I would stop crying. I tried to stop him- told him that I couldn’t lose him, too. But he insisted that everything would be fine. Because he was the strong twin and I was the gentle twin, I could go to the funeral for both of us while he went to get revenge for me. I couldn’t stop him, so I went to go to mom's funeral." 

Another deep breath.

"Grandpa Alec was there. He yelled at me for not trying harder to stop Claus, called me a weak cry-baby." He huffed, and Ness couldn't quite tell what his friend was feeling.

"Y'know, it's one thing if your twin calls you that, because they don't usually mean to be hurtful. But Grandpa Alec saying it really hurt. So I ran back home, so he couldn’t see me cry and prove him right. I stopped sometime after that, and waited for dad to come home, hoping and thinking that he'd bring Claus back with him." He paused and took another breath, not as deep this time.

"Dad didn’t come home till late that night, and...Claus wasn’t with him- he...he'd only found his shoes..." 

There was a knock on the door. 

"Lucas! Zelda needs you in the kitchen, please!" 

Lucas paused again. He didn’t want to leave midway through his story. But it was _Zelda_ asking, and outside of when she'd convinced him to tell her his story, they rarely interacted with each other. 

"Coming!" Lucas called out. 

He heard Peach walking away and then turned to Ness. 

"I'll be right back." 

 


	4. In Which Certain Masks Are Unmasked

Lucas followed behind Peach and tried to ignore the way she was wringing her gloved hands, choosing instead to focus on Ness. He'd been proving to be a good distraction lately. 

_I wonder how he's reacting...I hope he's okay... I think...it'd be good, if I can finish telling him..._

Unbidden, he saw a pair of bright green eyes, shining with childish impatience. 

_Right...back then, Claus..._

Claus would've never let him leave a story unfinished, pestering him for the rest even if Miss Tessie was calling him. 

_That can't happen again, though...right? Because of me, Claus..._

Lucas shook his head vigorously, eager to be rid of the memory. No matter how his adventure ended, no one else aside from himself remembered anything, and because of that, that happiness he so selfishly yearned for could never come, not then and certainly not now.

Those bitter, poisonous memories were like acid, deteriorating those hopes and dreams with dread and paranoia, and the constant feeling that it was all a dream and he'd wake up to find _everyone-_ Zelda, Ness, Fox, Snake, Ashe and his Pokemon, Megaman,  _everyone-_ dead around him, decaying and crumbling with the rest of the world leaving only him and the Dragon. 

Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath, brushing off Peach's concerned look with a practiced smile (and of course she saw through it she always did but she didn't have the heart to actually press him). 

Wordlessly, they entered the kitchen. 

* * *

Claus and Zelda turned at the sound of light footsteps, and heterochromatic eyes, one green and one red, instantly locked onto blue. 

There was a pause, and then...

Claus leapt towards Lucas, not missing how his twin tried to shield himself with his palms, but ignoring it in favor of hugging him tightly- tighter than dad could possibly manage but still light enough not to accidentally break something with his mechanical arm.

"Lucas!" He cried, keenly aware of his poor brother's trembling, " Lucas! I've missed you so, so much! Lucas!" 

Like a dam bursting open, suddenly Claus found he couldn't stop saying Lucas's name, as if, by not saying it, he'd forget again. 

He knelt down onto the tiled floor, pulling Lucas with him even as he moved his hand up to entangle his fingers in Lucas's blond hair. 

He felt more than heard Lucas's shuddering breaths so, with his metallic hand, he rubbed circles along his back the way mom used to (though, being metal, it had nowhere near the same effect). 

"Lucas...Lucas...Lucas...ssh...It's okay now...I'm here now, and I won't ever let anyone hurt you again...Lucas..." 

Slowly, but not unnoticed by Claus, Peach made her way to Zelda. 

"...how does he know Lucas..?" She asked softly. 

Zelda shook her head. 

"It's not my place to say," she answered equally soft. "I'm sure Lucas will say eventually. Or else Master Hand." 

 

 


End file.
